Crafting weblog Chica and Jo shares that by using padding compound you can turn nearly any stack of paper into a pad by securing the sides with binder clips and brush the compound around the edge of the pad. You can add a cardboard backing if you want a sturdy back and the author recommends using a piece of regular white paper on the front and back to protect the notepad from glue drips.

We've previously covered making a pad of $2 bills using rubber cement which is cheap and ubiquitous so you may want to give that a try before spending $8 for padding compound, but it's likely that not every paper will be as resistant to staining from rubber cement as the paper/cloth weave that dollar bills are made from. Padding compound is used in bookbinding and normally sells in quart sizes, but since most people won't need that much the source blog sells 2oz bottles in their Amazon store at the link below.